The 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer report follows Facebook's decision to tweak its algorithm to favour more personal content rather than news, promoting posts from family and friends ahead of those from businesses, brands and media less prominent.

Major retailers including Amazon, Boohoo and AO.com are using Dark UX methods, in which website interfaces are deliberately designed to trick consumers into a bigger spend, according to a new report.

Facebook and online marketing tools are constantly updating and sometimes making it more complicated for retailers to make the most of the social media and tracking of the customers online and offline purchases.

In the third quarter of 2017, the proportion of banner ads served that met minimum viewability guidelines rose from 51% to 52%  the highest level since Q1 2016 (54%). This followed a rise from 47% to 51% in the previous quarter.

Having overtaken Valentines Day as the UKs third biggest retail event, Brits made more than 2 million searches for Halloween costume on the site during September and October last year, according to new research.